Remembering Papy

Two years ago today, June 22nd 2013, my grandfather passed away. It was the first time I had ever dealt with the death of a loved one. It also came a week before I was to leave for Ethiopia. I still hadn't completely moved out of my apartment, I hadn't bought everything on my list, I had yet to start packing and say my goodbyes, and then my father called me to tell me Papy had passed away. Death never comes at a good time, and this felt like the worst time.

As my grandparents started getting older and they befell to various illnesses I had always told myself that if anything happened, if life suddenly stopped for them, I would make it back to France. And then Papy died and it was impossible for me to go to the funeral. I felt tremendous guilt and hatred at myself. I felt like a liar. I was so lost and questioned if going to Ethiopia was right at the moment. I know for my parents and my sister this was such a difficult time. My parents were trying to mentally prepare for my departure when Papy left and my sister was in France standing with my family being the amazing support that none of us could be from so far away. That last week was terrible. Since having accepted my invitation to serve in Ethiopia I had been imagining what my last week would be in America. I had all these ideas and plans on what I would do, what I would eat, who I would see. Most of that didn't happen. There was so much to do in so little time. I remember saying goodbye to my friends, but I was in a kind of haze because deep down I was only thinking about Papy and the fact that I would never get to see him again. I felt such enormous guilt at not being close to my grandmother, my dad, and my aunt to support them and be there for them during this difficult time. Ethiopia was the last place I wanted to be and I left for Ethiopia without having grieved for Papy's death.

Somehow I made it here though. I remember talking to one of my close friends during that last week. I didn't know if I should still leave for the Peace Corps. She said something to me that I never forgot. Yes his passing was awful and sad, but now he would get to see me in Ethiopia. He would follow me on my journey and he would be watching me.  He would be looking down on me and would see me do all the things I was going to accomplish in Ethiopia and he would be proud.

That stayed with me and helped me get on that plane. I remember thinking about Papy throughout my entire pre-service training. It was hard because I had to deal with his death in bits and pieces. We were so busy during our 3 months of training I didn't have time to think about it. I remember sessions when he would suddenly appear in my mind and I would want to cry, but I immediately had to shut it off because I was in the middle of a session. We had technical sessions and hours of language classes and cultural integration with our host families and so much more that we had to give 100% to all the time. I never got to fully grieve until after our training and I had been at site for a few weeks. I don't think I completely forgave myself for not being present at his funeral for months. But throughout it all I always remembered what my friend said, Papy would get to see me on my journey.

There is one place in Butajira that I always associate with my grandfather because it was the one place during our training that I got a few minutes of peace and quiet. And each time I was alone he would appear in my mind. It's the gorge in kebele 01 where my host family lived. It's an enormous gorge, a perfect example of Ethiopia's rift valley. And it's so beautiful and gorgeous and immense. Each time I see it I remember sitting at the very top, looking down, and thinking of my grandfather. I was so sad than. But I go to the gorge now and I don't see it as a place of sorrow. It's a place of serenity and peacefulness and a reminder to me that no matter how tough a situation seems and impossible to get through, it does get better. Papy left his mark on Ethiopia, at the gorge.

Thinking about Papy's life and replaying the stories in my mind that family members had told me of his life helped me get through his passing and helped me serve in Ethiopia. The things he had done and the things he had been through at such a young age. The bravery he showed and his humbleness. The courage he had to always stand for what he knew was right. Because I remember thinking that if he could do all that he had done in his life, the least I could do was live in Ethiopia for 2 years. His strength helped me be a stronger person. My Papy is someone to remember.

As I arrive at my 2 year mark I look back at that time before I left and remember all the pain and anguish in our family. Then I look at how we all got through it, how our family came together. From separate continents we supported and loved each other. We cried together. I learned that no matter how much I may argue with my family sometimes, during the tough stuff we are one and we are there for each other.

Because my grandfather left us right before I came to Ethiopia he will always be in some way a part of my experience here. He was part of my process here, of my journey. He helped me get through all the good and the bad. In turn Ethiopia allowed me to grieve and deal with his death. I think it took a few months, but I never forgot him throughout all of this. I made it to the end. Papy was there with me at the beginning and he is here with me today.   

Je t'aime Papy

A Success Story

My group's COS conference is coming up next week. We've got a bunch of paperwork to fill out and things to do before our first session. For one of our assignments Peace Corps wants us to write a success story from our service. This can be anything from work to community integration. I chose a story from school and I thought I would share on my blog. 

Enjoy!

From Butajira Ethiopia

A Peace Corps success story

Helena Chevallier, G9 education 2013-2015

One of my fondest memories from my Peace Corps service has been the progress I have made with my grades 5 & 6 English club. This club was by far the most unorganized, in terms of logistics. My first year I had tried to get this club started but was having a difficult time getting the English teacher to help me. I tried again my second year but it was the same situation.

When I started getting random students from grades 5 and 6 coming to my classroom during their free time I took the initiative and told those students about English club. I thought, “To hell with it. If the teachers aren’t going to help, I’m just going to do it myself.” I explained to the students when they should come back and on what days. These students are not formerly registered, like the ones for my grades 7 & 8 club. (I had a teacher to help me facilitate that one in the beginning of the school year making it “organized”). Even though this club (grades 5 & 6) was much less organized, it had been the highlight of each week. I had the same eight students that came week in and week out. They were always so eager and excited for club. Much more than the club I run for the older students. These younger students were always on time and ready to go. When I first started my service I would have thought having only eight students was a huge failure. Over time though I’ve learned that it’s not the numbers that matter. I had eight students that loved my club and that was enough.

I'm not going to lie. I definitely had days when I felt unmotivated and really uninterested in doing club. Dreading the walk, I somehow always made my way to the school though. Whenever I started sessions with this club in particular my mood always lifted. These eight students were always able to turn a bad day upside down. So why do I consider this group of students to be my “success”? It’s hard to explain, but I’m going to try.

The English level of most of these students is quite low and with my limited Amharic skills it could be quite difficult sometimes, but they were always so patient. And that in turn allowed me to be patient. They really did their best to listen to what I said and we learned to all work together so that everyone understood their tasks. In my last couple of months I gave them activities where they had to be more creative. With the language barrier this was not a simple task. But I took my time explaining the lessons and activities to them. When I would first give them a task that they were not used to they would look at me like I was crazy and they had no idea what I was asking them to do.

I've thought of this a lot and I think it's because the things I asked them to do, no one had ever asked of them before. For example, on one of our last meetings I had them imagine their lives after 10 years. I asked them specific questions about what they saw for their futures and asked them to draw the life they saw for themselves. To understand this concept I really had to break it down and go through this one step at a time. But as I saw them process their assignment and what I was telling them to do, I could tell this was something they had never thought of before. And when it finally clicked in their minds, what it was that I wanted them to do, they got to it immediately and came up with some great drawings. Seeing that "aha" moment on their faces is what did it for me. They were so excited to use the markers, make their drawings, and then describe it to the class. They were so happy. That's what made this club so successful for me. In the beginning they were very unsure of me. Over the months we had together though, they became much more comfortable. All of them always came to our meetings on time and ready to go, no matter how much they didn’t understand or how long it took them to understand. That never stopped them from coming to our sessions.

I allowed and gave the students the time they needed to understand and I was patient with them. I let them think about what I was saying and made sure they were always all on the same page and in the end I realized the students really appreciated that. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have kept coming. I don’t think they are often given that one on one attention. Not like what I give them. That’s what made this club difficult at first. They didn’t understand what I was doing. I spent time with them individually and if they didn’t understand I didn’t let them shrug it off. I sat with them at their level and made sure they got it. I think they appreciated that and that’s what made this club so successful. Seeing them happy made me so happy. They just wanted to spend time with me and learn with me.

These students showed me that if you give kids the little push and attention that they need, they can do so much with it. They will always be an important part of my time in Ethiopia and the memories I made with them will stay with me forever. 

Self-motivation

As my time in Ethiopia dwindles down, I've been taking a closer look at my service thus far. I was with a friend this past week and due to the events that took place, or should I say lack of events, I came to realize that as PCVs we are constantly having to motivate ourselves and a big chunk of my service has been me motivating myself. Let me explain.

Self motivation as a PCV is constant. How did I come to think about this profoundly? Well this week, my friend and I were all set to get some work done. As COS (Close of Service) approaches most of us are thinking about our next step. It may be graduate school, applying to jobs, working on our resumes/CVs, reaching out to connections back home, etc. Safe to say I have plenty I should be doing. I didn't have any programs scheduled at my school on that particular day, so the two of us were all set to go down to the hotel and get some work done with the hotel's wifi. It was extremely hot, but we faced the heat. Of course the internet wasn't working. With sweat starting to come down my face, we tried the other places in town. Four places later, nothing was working. We then said we'd go ahead and do some errands. I had to go to the post office. It was 2:30pm and closed. I couldn't tell you why. I guess an extra long lunch break? Then we had to go to the bank. The network was down so we couldn't get our money. We thought we'd stop to get a bite to eat. We were craving inkulal siga (scrambled eggs with meat on injera). They didn't have what we wanted so we just went next door and had some avocado juice. Pretty delicious too but it wasn't what we set out wanting. All this is to point out that throughout my service, just because I wake up in the morning all set and ready with a list of tasks to accomplish, no matter how simple the task, such as going to the bank to withdraw funds, there's a good chance I won't get through those tasks. You just have to know that going in. PCVs have to be incredibly flexible. If not we are setting ourselves up to endless disappointments and frustrations.

It gets hard having to always motivate yourself. No one is pushing you. You have to do it all on your own. For the most minute things too, such as going to the post office. On that day when we set out to the hotel, we came back after a two hour excursion with nothing to show for it. I wanted to work. I wanted to get some concrete research done, but because of forces out of my control I couldn't. It can get pretty discouraging because this isn't something that happens once in a while. This happens ALL THE TIME. I've had to learn to be unbelievably patient because nothing ever turns out the way you hope. There's only so much you can do. I can't make the internet work. I was ready to do job research but then I couldn't. So then what's left to do but go home and read a book. You can easily get discouraged. You have to continue to self-motivate. Every day. It's so easy to feel defeated. All this to show that as a PCV you set out to accomplish certain tasks, yet there's a good chance none of it will get done. That's why when something good does happen, when you get a success, no matter how small, you really have to hold on to it and celebrate it.

In the beginning I think I was easily discouraged and frustrated by this. But as the months have gone, I've become pretty flexible and patient and when things don't go the way I planned I just try again the following day and occupy my day by doing something else. It's hard, but I think all of us are learning how to work in all kinds of environments.    

Fasika

This post is a bit late seeing as how Fasika (Ethiopia Easter) was celebrated on April 12th. Better late than never though.

I was super excited about Fasika this year. Maybe because I hadn't had doro wat (chicken stew - the best dish in Ethiopia) in months and I hadn't had any meat in weeks because Ethiopians fast for two months prior to the holiday. But mostly I think I was excited because I knew this was my last major holiday in Ethiopia (that made me sad) and I really wanted to take it all in and be a part of it. So that's what I did.

You know a holiday's coming when chickens and sheep start showing up on your compound. Over a week before Fasika, my landlady had bought three of the biggest chickens I've ever seen in Ethiopia and a pretty decent sized sheep. My landlady kept calling the chickens "ferenje doro" or "foreigner chickens" because of their size. I guess she was calling us foreigners fat. I don’t know but I thought it was funny. So for a week we were woken up super early by the chickens. I was more than ready for their inevitable death at the end of the week.

A couple days prior to Fasika Ethiopians start making the beverages for the holiday. Keneto, a non-alcoholic drink for the children is made with barley. They also make tela, home-made wine. Saturday afternoon my landlady was finishing making these. As I walked past the storage room where she was cooking I asked her how it was coming along. She then handed me a full pitcher of tela to take back into my house and drink. It was 1:30pm. The celebrations were already beginning.

That night, the animals were slaughtered. The men kill the animals. It was pretty gruesome so I didn't take any pictures. They killed the sheep and then hung it upside down to drain all the blood out. Then they killed the chickens. The chickens were brought to my lady in the outdoor kitchen they have at the end of the compound. There she tore the dead chickens apart, all with her bare hands! It's so much work! I'm always so impressed when I see this done. It was a mess of feathers, organs, blood, but she knew exactly what she was doing. She went through the same process with five chickens! Three were for her family and the other two were for her mother (because her mother is older she does it for her). The stew had been cooked earlier and was sitting there in three huge pots. We were going to have enough doro wat for days. As my landlady cleaned the chickens we sat around her and kept her company, talking and drinking more tela. She didn't go to bed until after midnight.

The next morning Abigail, their daughter, came to wake me up for breakfast. Ethiopians start eating doro wat bright and early in the morning. Doro wat has tons of onions (we're talking several kilos) and is full of berbere (hot spice) so it can be a lot to take in that early, but I think I'm used to it by now. I love it. So I went to my landlady's home and we all ate chicken and drank tela, again! She also had prepared tibs (chopped up sheep meat) that morning and I got to eat that. After the meal my landlord pulled out the gin and poured us all a shot. And then another. It was 9:30am! I was so full and exhausted when I got back to my house and had to take a little nap. Because at noon I was invited to my neighbor's home for round 2. It was the same routine there. More doro wat and tela. I was so full and could only eat a little bit. At 3pm I was invited to one of my teacher's homes for another meal. That last one was rough. I didn't think I could eat another bite. If you don't eat it's considered rude so I tried and did my best, but that night I was not feeling well. When your body isn't used to eating meat, it's quite a lot of meat to take in all in one day. It was all worth it though. My last holiday in Ethiopia was wonderful. It's unbelievable to me that this was the last one. I remember my first one in Ethiopia. I celebrated Ethiopian New Year, September 11th, with my host family back during pre-service training. That feels like a different time. I remember feeling lost and so unsure back then. I'm so much more comfortable now. I feel at home. I definitely felt at home for Fasika this time around. I've come a long way and being able to see that progress is pretty great. When you first arrive here you have no idea if you'll make it and how it will all turn out. I'm so grateful that I've come this far and I've become comfortable here. I've made Ethiopia my home.

Malaria Awareness

If you remember from last year around this time I had written a blog post about malaria. April 25th is World Malaria Month so Peace Corps has turned April into Malaria month. I thought I'd use this post to refresh your minds and share more about the disease.

Malaria continues to be a crisis throughout much of Africa. Every 45 seconds a child dies from the disease. What's worse, malaria is completely preventable and curable if people would sleep under mosquito nets. If you do contract malaria you can go to a health center or hospital and it can be easily treated. Because malaria feels like the flu, many do not know they have malaria or they wait to long before going to visit a doctor. Malaria has been eradicated throughout many regions outside this continent with the use of insecticides, medicines, and mosquito nets. This disease is transmitted only by a special kind of mosquito- called the Anopheles mosquito- which primarily bites at night.

Compared to the rest of Africa, the percentage of people who get malaria in Ethiopia is low. Still, malaria can be found in 75% of Ethiopia. Now we're trying to completely eliminate the disease from the country. Hopefully this becomes a reality sooner than later. Much of Ethiopia has a high elevation making malaria non existent in those areas. Mosquitos can't get above a certain altitude. In the last few years however, as a consequence of global warming, cases of malaria have been reported at higher elevations than normal. Living in the South malaria is a bigger concern because the elevation is lower here. Addis Ababa for example, the third highest city in the world, lies at 2,400 meters, whereas Hawassa, the capital city of the South and an area that I frequent often has an altitude of 1,685 meters. It may not seem like quite a difference, but when I first arrived in Ethiopia I definitely felt the change in altitude and it took a few days for the altitude sickness to go away. There's no malaria in Addis while in Hawassa it is quite prevalent. Because I often go to Hawassa I do my best to remember to take my malaria pills. I always sleep under the mosquito nets the hotels provide and I always spray insect repellant on. The government is working to make malaria a disease of the past. Health clinics throughout the country pass out mosquito nets to communities in rural areas. Without the proper training, though, and the lack of information, many people don't know how to use the nets and use them for other purposes that won't help them against malaria. One use I've seen is using the netting as a chicken coop.

What are Peace Corps Volunteers doing? One of the goals for health volunteers is to work on malaria awareness. These volunteers work closely with the health centers in their communities. There is also an Africa-wide initiative known as STOMP. In Ethiopia, we have regional coordinators that work closely with STOMP to spread the latest news about malaria throughout their region and keep their volunteers updated on the latest malaria activities they can do in their communities.

This month I used my English clubs to spread awareness about malaria. Even though there have been very few cases of malaria in Butajira, it is still possible to get it. I want my students to know what causes malaria, what they can do to prevent it, and what they should do if they start to get symptoms. Hopefully, by giving people information about the deadly consequences of not using a mosquito net and other prevention methods, malaria can be eradicated in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. 

Our New Life Skills Club

On Saturday morning, the girls that I took to the AGE Summit and I started a life skills club at our school. The girls learned so much at the summit and are now ready to share their knowledge with their fellow students. We also received GAD (Gender and Development) manuals at the summit so we are using this as a guide for our club. I met with Itsubdink and Habtamnesh (my two participants from the summit) this week to discuss the logistics for our club. Since they know their classmates best, they chose the students to invite to our club. We decided it would be best to have both boys and girls participate and to meet in my classroom. The purpose of our club is to give the students the skills they need to become successful. That means we are going to be teaching them about leadership, personal health, and making good decisions, all while promoting English language and gender equality.

For our first session we did an activity called "Life Tree." This is a personal growth activity that aims to introduce participants to the importance of goal setting in their lives and the significance of personal values in achieving goals. By creating specific life goals participants will be motivated to take the steps towards a successful and rewarding life (GAD Manual). We first had the students imagine their lives in 10 years. We asked them what they saw? What were they doing? Where they were? Who they were with? Next, all the students were handed colored sheets of paper where they drew their own tree. The roots represented their foundation and the skills they have now. In the tree and the leaves they had to write their future goals. On the left side the students were to draw clouds to represent tangible resources they would need to accomplish their goals while on the right side they were to draw a lightning bolt signifying any potential threats they might encounter in reaching their goals. I love doing introspective activities like this and really enjoyed watching the kids tap into their creative sides. Students aren't often given the opportunity to express themselves and their ideas. It was nice doing an activity where they focused only on themselves and where they want their life to go.

I'm most proud of Itsubdink and Habtamnesh. It was wonderful watching them really take charge of this lesson. They were translating everything that I was saying and during the activity they walked around and helped all of the students. It's amazing to see them sharing the knowledge and skills they learned at the summit by leading these lessons. Our first session was a great success. I can't wait to see what next week brings!

AGE Summit

My girls Itsubdink (left) and Habtamnesh (right)

Last week I attended the second annual AGE (Action for Gender Equality) Summit in Addis Ababa, a 4 day event for volunteers and their students centered around the Women's First 5 km run in Addis and put on by Peace Corps Ethiopia's GAD (Gender and Development) Committee. Peace Corps Volunteers who had completed the most gender activities in their communities were chosen to participate in the summit and choose two students from their sites to bring along. This event brought students together from SNNPR (my region, the South), Oromia, Amhara and Tigray. Students never get the opportunity to interact with students from other regions so that was another terrific aspect of the summit. I chose two 14 year old girls from my gender club who I thought would benefit the most from the event. I wasn't sure how the girls' parents would feel about me taking their daughters away to Addis for a few days, but after sitting down with them they agreed that this was a great opportunity for the girls. Even though I only brought female students, some participants brought males at the request of GAD. When talking about gender inequality it's important to understand that men need to be a part of the conversation and movement towards equality as well. Men play an important role by influencing other men and their female counterparts. Gender equality will never be achieved without both sexes working together.

Ambassador Haslach speaking to the students

The event was held at the Red Cross Center, a training center with plenty of space for outdoor activities, indoor sessions, and the dorm rooms on the compound. On Friday morning we had a visit from the American ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach. In her speech she discussed the importance of following your dreams and making them happen. She also spoke about the mentors in her life that have helped her achieve all that she has. In a field dominated by men, she explained that confidence can take you far. Not everyone will be pleased to see a woman in such a high leadership position, but that shouldn't stop you. You must know that you are equal to your male colleagues. Obviously her speech didn't just influence the students, but reached me as well.

The two days prior to the race (the race was held on Sunday morning) were filled with sessions about gender equality and empowerment. After the ambassador's visit on Friday, the kids did an activity called "Walk a Kilometer in Her Shoes." This is a relay race where boys have to perform some of the basic chores girls do every day. The boys put on women's shoes and wrapped a ball around their backs with a scarf to represent their "baby." They then had to chop vegetables, fill a bucket of water, carry it across the compound and wash clothes. Throughout the race the girls had to tell them if they were doing something wrong and were cheering them on. The goal of this activity was for the boys to realize how much work their mothers and sisters do. It showed them how difficult it is for girls to study and do their homework when they have so much work to finish at home first. Later, the kids did an activity called "Gender Stadium" where both the females and males talked about their gender roles and how having those roles makes them feel. Other sessions focused on respecting one another's viewpoints, gender based violence, and leadership/mentorship.

A woman from CCL (Center for Creative Leadership) spoke to the participants about mentorship and six successful Ethiopians were invited to do a career panel. The students also got a tour of Addis Ababa University, the most prestigious university in Ethiopia. The tour was followed by another panel with professors and students from the university. The students had lots of questions for all of the guests. Sunday evening we had a keynote speaker, UN HIV/AIDS Ambassador and 2003 Miss World Competitor, Hayat Amhed. She is an incredible role model for these kids and it was a treat having her come to the summit to talk about her life.

Race day was Sunday morning. We all woke before the sun came up and took a bus to the race. We joined a group of over 10,000 women! This was such an incredible experience. All sorts of women were participating, both young and old, big and small, Ethiopian and foreign. It didn't matter what you looked like, everyone was happy and cheering each other on. The energy was amazing. Women were the only ones allowed to participate so the boys stood on the sidelines with posters cheering us on and showing their support. Being a part of this event was one of the best moments I've had in Ethiopia. It was a truly empowering experience. What was even better was seeing our students thriving in this environment. I can't begin to imagine what was going through their minds. None of these girls had ever been to such a huge event. Before the race started we got a performance from the girl group Yegna. Ethiopian Olympic gold medalists Meseret Defar and Haile Gebreselassie blew the horn to start the race. The girls were SO happy. I saw them completely let go and just be free. Us volunteers never see girls this happy and excited in our communities. Most of the time they are quiet and not at all outgoing. At site they fit perfectly into their gender role so to see them at this race, dancing together, laughing as loud as they could and running around was incredible. This is something I will remember forever.

Itsubdink explaining her group's activity to the rest of the participants

That afternoon back at the Red Cross Center we had sessions about sexual harassment and sexual health. Each of us volunteers also got with the students we brought to create an action plan about how to bring the lessons learned throughout the summit back to our communities. We finished the day with a talent show. Before heading off to bed a lot of students had tears as they said their goodbyes.

I had an amazing 4 days and I can't wait to do more gender work with my girls and have them be leaders of our school back in Butajira. I am so proud of them. In just a few days I saw these girls come out of their shells, speak up, and gain so much confidence. I can't wait to see what we do together with the handful of months I have left. 

Extremely proud to have these two as my students

I know I have written about these facts in a previous post, but I thought it would be a good reminder of why the GAD committee and the gender work volunteers are doing

are so important to the development of this country.

These facts come from the World Economic Forum 2013, DHS 2005, Oxfam Ethiopia Country Profile 2013, and UNICEF 2012.

•        Ethiopia ranked 118th out of 136 countries on the 2013 Global Gender Gap Index.

•        Only 18% of Ethiopian women are literate, compared to 42% of men.

•        In Ethiopia, 71% of women have suffered from physical and/or sexual violence in their

             lifetime

•        81% of women agree that wife beating is acceptable for at least one reason.

•        17% of Ethiopian women report that their first instance of sexual intercourse was forced.

•        Only 14% of women are employed outside their family.

•        Women hold only 18.7% of land.

•        The 2011 EDHS found that 12% of women aged 15 – 19 are pregnant or mothers.

•        Fertility rate is 4.8.

•        The maternal mortality rate is 470 (out of 100,000 births).

•        Only 24% of students enrolled in university are female.

•        Ethiopia currently ranks 174th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index.

            Average incomes are less than half the average for sub-Saharan Africa.

•        8% of women were abducted and forced into marriage.

•        Ethiopia is ranked 76 out of 79 countries on IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index.

•        Only 3.2% of the Ethiopian population is over the age of 65.

•        Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) prevalence by Region

•        Amhara – 68%

•        Oromyia – 87%

•        Tigray – 29%

•        SNNPR – 71%